• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.253-258
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• 2005

Generalized edema and hypoalbuminemia are relatively common presenting manifestations in many clinical situations. The differential diagnosis of hypoalbuminemia include: Kwashiorkor, synthetic dysfunction of the liver, and excessive protein loss as in nephrotic syndrome. In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), hypoalbuminemia and generalized edema are most commonly due to protein loss associated with lupus nephritis; gastrointestinal involvement is uncommon, and therefore protein loss through the gastrointestinal tract is quite rare. We report a case of a protein losing enteropathy (PLE) associated with SLE. The patient was referred to our hospital for generalized edema, arthralgia and facial rash. After clinical evaluation, the patient met the criteria for the SLE diagnosis; hypoalbuminemia with general edema was consistent with a protein losing enteropathy. After two weeks of therapy with parenteral high dose glucocorticoid, the patients was improved in laboratory findings as well as clinical symptoms.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.74-78
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• 2007

Purpose : Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic multisystemic autoimmune disease with complex clinical manifestations. It probably involves genetic, environmental and immunologic factors. In this study, we investigated the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings and prognosis of pediatric SLE to aid clinical care of pediatric SLE. Methods : The data of 45 patients who were diagnosed as pediatric SLE in Severance Children's Hospital from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 2005 were analysed retrospectively. Results : The mean age at diagnosis was 10.8 (0-15) years old. And the ratio of male to female patients was 1:4. The initial manifestations were facial edema (51.1 percent), malar rash (44.4 percent), and fever (28.9 percent). The ANA (97.8 percent), anti-ds DNA antibody (82.2 percent), lupus nephritis (71.1 percent), malar rash (71.1 percent), and cytopenia (66.7 percent) were the most common findings among the classification criteria by ACR (American College of Rhematology, 1997). Conclusion : Clinical manifestations and prognosis are various in pediatric SLE. Intensive studies of SLE in children should be continued for more effective treatment.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.127-136
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• 1985

To evaluate change of serum $beta_2-microglobulin$ concentration$(s\beta_2-MG)$ and the usefulness of $s\beta_2-MG$ and $s\beta_2-MG/serum$ creatinine concentration(sCr) ratio in various renal diseases, $s\beta_2-MG$ and sCr were measured in 25 normal controls and 90 patients of various renal diseases(16 cases of glomerulonephritis, 12 cases of acute renal failure, 8 cases of chronic renal failure, 24 cases of nephrotic syndrome, 15 cases of tubulointerstitial diseases and 15 cases of lupus nephritis) using $Phadebas^\circledR$ $Beta_2-Micro$ Test kits. The results were as follows; 1) In normal control, the mean value of $s\beta_2-MG$ was $1.65{\pm}0.41mg/l$ and the mean value of $s\beta_2-MG/sCr$ ratio was $0.14{\pm}0.05$. 2) In various renal diseases, the mean value of $s\beta_2-MG$ was $6.74{\pm}5.47mg/l$. The mean value of $s\beta_2-MG/sCr$ ratio was $0.24{\pm}0.11$ and significantly elevated than that of normal control. (p<0.05) 3) The correlation between $s\beta_2-MG$ and sCr in glomerular and tubulointerstitial disease was log $s\beta_2-MG-0.90$ log sCr-0.48 and its correlation coefficient was 0.78(p<0.05). 4) In glomerular disease, the correlation between $s\beta_2-MG$ and sCr was log $s\beta_2-MG-0.89$ log sCr-0.46(r - 0.76) and in tubulointerstitial disease, it was log, $s\beta2-MG-0.95$ log sCr-0.59 (r-0.87). There was no significant difference between the two groups(p<0.05). 5) Among 32 cases of glomerular and tubulointerstitial disease patients, whose sCr was within normal range, 17 cases showed elevated $s\beta_2-MG$. The mean values of $s\beta_2-MG/sCr$ ratio in these patients was $0.30{\pm}0.14$ and significantly elevated than that of normal control(p<0.05). 6) In 15 cases of lupus nephritis, 12 cases showed elevated $s\beta_2-MG$ with normal sCr and 12 cases showed elevated $s\beta_2-MG/sCr$ ratio. With above results, it was found that the $s\beta_2MG$ can be used as an index of glomerular filtration rate as in the case of sCr and that $s\beta_2-MG/sCr$ ratio can be used as a tool in early detection of slightly decreased glomerular filtration rate and in detection of the renal disease of increased $\beta_2-MG$ production.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2006

Purpose : To analyse the results of the renal biopsies and the clinical diagnoses of patients who had undergone percutaneous kidney biopsies in the department of pediatrics at Kyunghee University Hospital for 22 years from 1984 to 2005. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1559 patients and analyzed the chief complaints that led to a renal biopsy, age, sex, histopathologic findings and diagnosis. Routine kidney biopsies were performed by automated gun biopsy guided by real time ultrasonography. The diagnoses were made based on the specimen's light microscopy, immunofluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy findings and clinical symptoms and signs. Results : The mean age of the patients was 10 years with the male to female ratio being 1.3:1. The chief complaints that led to a renal biopsy included hematuria only(753 cases, 48.3%), proteinuria only(125 cases, 8.0%) and hematuria combined with proteinuria(537 cases, 34.4%). The most frequent histopathological finding was primary glomerular disease(75.4%) which included IgA nephropathy(30.1%) and mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis(27.6 %). Systemic disease comprised 11.4% which included Henoch-$Sch\ddot{o}nlein$ nephritis(10.5%) and lupus nephritis(0.8%). Alport syndrome was found in 1.1% of cases which was attributed to hereditary causes. 628 children(40.3%) visited the clinic due to abnormal school urine screening abnormalities and among these, 237 children had mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis and 234 children who had IgA nephropathy were managed thereafter. Conclusion : IgA nephropathy and mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis were the two major forms of primary glomerulonephritis found in Korean children who had kidney biopsies from 1984 to 2005.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2018

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an interleukin-7-like cytokine that is an important trigger and initiator of many allergic diseases. TSLP promotes a T-helper type 2 (Th2) cytokine response that can be pathological. A relationship is formed both at the induction phase of the Th2 response through polarization of dendritic cells to drive Th2 cell differentiation and at the effector phase of the response, by promoting the expansion of activated T cells and their secretion of Th2 cytokines and TSLP. In transgenic mice with TSLP overexpression, it has been reported that TSLP leads to the development of mixed cryoglobulinemic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. In addition, TSLP can play an important role in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy and systemic lupus erythematosus-related nephritis. From our knowledge of the role of TSLP in the kidney, further studies including the discovery of new therapies need to be considered based on the relationship between TSLP and glomerulonephritis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.1 s.29
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• pp.51-70
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• 1995

To find the cause, pathology, oriental presciptions for SLE(systemic lupus erythematous) in the field of oriental medicine, we studied the clinical reports. The results were obtained as follows: 1. SLE can' be thought to be a category of chronic fatigue, numbness, yang poison' & erythema. 2. The chief cause of SLE could be a febrile poison and the lack of physiological fluid and the mechanism was that febrile poison attacted area of circulation and blood and injuried the physiological fluid to arise edema and clotted blood. 3. The therapy of SLE was chiefly clarifying heat and toxiciding in acute stage while reinforcing kidney and liver and supplementing Yin & clarifying in chronic stage, sometimes supplementing Qi, eliminating clotted blood, excuding wind and draining water could be applied. 4. The therapy for SLE nephritis was shown to be increasing yin and clarifying heat with toxiciding, reinforcing spleen and kidney, draining water, supplementing yin & Qi etc. The chief prescriptions were Seogakjihwangtang(犀角地黃湯), Wookakjihwangtang(牛角地黃湯), yeechihwan(二至丸), Daepowonjeon(大補元煎), Daepoeumhwan(大補陰煎), Kikukjihwangtang(杞菊地黃湯), Yookmijihwangtang(六味地黃湯) which indicates Rhemanniae radix added prescrition could be used chiefly for the treatment of SLE.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2007

Background: Mizoribine (MZR) is an imidazole nucleoside isolated from Eupenicillium brefeldianum. MZR is currendy in clinical use for patients who have undergone renal transplantation. Therapeutic efficacy of MZR has also been demonstrated in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus nephritis. MZR has been shown to inhibit the proliferation or lymphocytes by interfering with inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase. Since the exact mechanism by which MZR benefits rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not clear, we investigated the ability of MZR to direct its immunosuppressive influences on other antigen presenting cells, such as macrophages. Methods: Mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in the presence of MZR. To elucidate the mechanism of the therapeutic efficacy in chronic inflammatory diseases, we examined the effects of MZR on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin $E_2\;(PGE_2)$ in macrophages. Results: MZR dose-dependendy decreased the production of nitric oxide and pro- inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukins $1{\beta}$ (IL-${\beta}$ and IL-6 $PGE_2$. Examination of gene expression levels showed that the anti-inflammatory effect correlated with the down-regulation of inducible nitiric oxide synthase expression, cycloxygenase-2 expression and TNF-${\alpha}$ gene expression. Conclusion: In this work, we resulted whether MZR $(1.25{\sim}10{\mu}g/ml)$ inhibited macrophage activation by inhibiting secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, NO and $PGE_2$. These findings provide an explanation for the therapeutic efficacy of MZR in chronic inflammation-associated diseases.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.8
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• pp.266-271
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• 2017

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical characteristics of hypertensive encephalopathy according to the underlying etiologies in children. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 33 pediatric patients who were diagnosed as having hypertensive encephalopathy in Chonbuk National University Children's Hospital. Among the patients, 18 were excluded because of incomplete data or because brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was not performed. Finally, 17 patients were enrolled and divided into a renal-origin hypertension group and a non-renal-origin hypertension group according to the underlying cause. We compared the clinical features and brain MRI findings between the 2 groups. Results: The renal group included renal artery stenosis (4), acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (2), lupus nephritis (2), and acute renal failure (1); the nonrenal group included essential hypertension (4), pheochromocytoma (2), thyrotoxicosis (1), and acute promyelocytic leukemia (1). The mean systolic blood pressure of the renal group ($172.5{\pm}36.9mmHg$) was higher than that of the nonrenal group ($137.1{\pm}11.1mmHg$, P<0.05). Seizure was the most common neurologic symptom, especially in the renal group (P<0.05). Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), which is the most typical finding of hypertensive encephalopathy, was found predominantly in the renal group as compared with the nonrenal group (66.6% vs. 12.5%, P<0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that the patients with renal-origin hypertension had a more severe clinical course than those with non-renal-origin hypertension. Furthermore, the renal-origin group was highly associated with PRES on brain MRI.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1147-1153
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• 2006

Mizoribine (MZR) has been shown to possess immunosuppressive activity that selectively inhibits the proliferation of lymphocytes by interfering with inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase. The efficacy of MZR is not only in patients who have had renal transplantation, but also in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus nephritis, and primary nephritic syndrome. Because the exact mechanism of its immunosuppressive action is not clear, the object of this study was to examine the ability of MZR to regulate the antigen presenting cells (APCs), dendritic cells (DCs). In this work, we tested whether MZR ($1{\sim}10\;{\mu}g/mL$) could inhibit the cross-presentation of DCs. DC2.4 cells ($H-2K^{b}$) or bone marrow-derived DCs (BM-DCs) generated from BM cells of C57BL/6 mouse ($H-2K^{b}$) were cultured in the presence of MZR with OVA-microspheres, and the amount of OVA peptide-class I MHC complexes was measured by a T cell hybridoma, B3Z, that recognizes OVA (257-264 : SIINFEKL)-$H-2K^{b}$ complex and expresses-galactosidase. MZR profoundly inhibited the expression of SIINFEKL-$H-2K^{b}$ complexes. This inhibitory activity of MZR appeared to affect the phagocytic activity of DCs. MZR also decreased IL-2 production when we examined the effects of MZR on $CD4^{+}$ T cells. These results provide an understanding of the mechanism of immunosuppressive activity of MZR on the inhibition of MHC-restricted antigen presentation and phagocytic activity in relation to their actions on APCs.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2005

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to analyze the therapeutic effect of plasmapheresis in various pediatric diseases. Methods : Therapeutic plasmapheresis was performed by COBE Spectra centrifugation. Nine cases were included in this study. The number an[;. method of plasmapheresis, together with the progress and prognosis of each case were retrospectively reviewed. Results : The patients' ages ranged from 26 mont]Is to 16 years of age, and the mean age was 9.9 years. There were S males and 4 females. The underlying diseases requiring plasmapheresis included 2 cases of hemolytic uremic svndrome(HUS), 1 case of lupus nephritis, 2 cases of rapidly Progressive glomerulonephritis(RPGN), 1 case of focal segmental glomorulosclerosis(FSGS), 1 case of systemic vasculitis after pulmonary hemorrhage, 1 case of acute renal failure associated with pulmonary hemoIThage, and 1 case of acute rejection after renal transplantation. The average number of plasmapheresis performed was 6.2 times with a range of 3 to 13 times. The patients with HUS, lupus nephritis, ANCA positive systemic vasculitis induced by pulmonary hemorrhage and ARF-associated pulmonary hemorrhage showed a good response to therapeutic plasmapheresis, but the patients with RPGN, refractory FSGS, and acute rejection after renal transplantation were not responsive to treatment. The most common side effect was hypocalcemia which was rarely symptomatic. Vital signs were not compromised. Conclusion : Although it is presumptuous to generalize the therapeutic effects of plasma pheresis in different diseases due to the small number of study subjects, this study shows that plasmapheresis may be an effective therapeutic modality in various pediatrics diseases and should be considered as a therapeutic option.